Apparatus for comminuting materials



Oct. 18, 1927. 1,646,184

c. H. BIRCH APPARATUS FOR COMMINUTING MATERIALS Filed %ct. 51, 1924 ssheets-sheet;

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0611. 0 7 c. H. BIRCH APPARATUS FOR COMMINUTING MATERIALS 3 Sheets-Sheet2 Filed Oct. 31, 1924 v Invgntbr Charles J-[Bz'rch Patented Oct 18,1927. I

1,646,184 UNITED STATES .CHARLES H. BIRCH, or aormr, armors.

"PATENT OFFICE.1I

APPARATUS FOR COMMINUTING MATERIALS.

- Application filed October 31', 1924. Serial No. 747,033. 1

My invention belongs to that general class i of apparatus designed topulverize, powder a or comminute materials, and more partie- 5 ularlyrelates to an apparatus adapted for 5 comminuting coal and likematerials and feeding the same, for example, into'a fire-. box. Thedevice has among its objectsthe production of an apparatus of the kinddescribed thatis simple, convenient, compact, durable, reliable,eflicient and satisfactory for use wherever found applicable. Moreparticularly it has as an object the produc-.

tion of a device which will be particularly suited for the comminutingof fuels and discharging the same continuously in a desired manner towhere required. The invention hasalso as an important object theproduction of a .machine that will be'as quiet and noiseless and freefrom vibration as ossible, which will be economical in operation andwhich may be regulated 'for' varying condltions.

Many other objects and advantagesof the construction herein shown anddescribed will be obvious to those skilled in the art from thedisclosures herein given.

To this end my invention consists in the novel construction, arrangementand combination of parts herein shown and described, and moreparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like orcorresponding parts: Y

Fig. 1 is a sectional view through my improved apparatus takensubstantially on line 1-1 of Fig. 2, with some parts omitted to moreclearly show the construction;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken .substanomitted to avoid confusion;Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of one of the tially on line 2,-2 of Fig. 1,with some parts shaft bearings;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 55 of Fig. 2; b

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 77 of Fig. 5, with drum turnedto another position. I Referring to the drawings, in which the preferredembodiment of my invention is shown, I provide a casing which may bemade in ope or more parts of the desired cam 27 is mounted on size,shape and material. The particular casing illustrated for-convenience inconstruction and in assembly is made up of parts 1, 2, 3 and 4, withassociated parts 6, 7 and 8,

"all of which may be secured together in any.

satisfactory manner;

' Arranged within rolls 9, '10 and 11. The material is fed into thehopper 6 from any suitable source and there is picked up by the feeder.The feeder is most clearly shown in Figs. 2, 5 and 6, and consists of adrum 15 provided with the co'operatingpart 16. This drum 15 may be madesolid or, if desired, tubular, as shown, so as to reduce weight. Thedrum 15 is provided with suitable supporting shaft 19 and arranged inthe bearings on the casing. The member 16 .carried thereby is adjustablerelative the roll so that the amount of material fed may be varied asdesired." As shown,

the casing part 1 are the same is provided with a shaft 20 S11 in Fig.2, or similar position. Arranged on the end of the shaft is a member 23provided with the dogs 24 and 25. These dogs are arranged to cooperatewith the cams 26 and 27 respectively to control the movements of themember 16 in and out of its recess 21. As shown, 28 is an adjustablesleeve proecting to the exterior of the casing and provided with anoperating lever 29, by means of which the cam 26 may be adjusted. The orformed as part of the casing.

Generally I prefer to form the casing part so that the cam niechanism isenclosedm a chamber so that particles of material cannot get to theparts, and likewise so protect the bearings at the opposite ends. Asshown, the casing walls 30 at either end provide the enclosedconstruction.

plained hereinafter.

The roll 9 is arranged on a shaft 32, suitably supported on the casing.The roll 10 s made up of a number of. sections consistmg of-the endsections 33 and intermediate sections 34. The several sections aresecured together by a rod 35 or equivalent means, 36 being a spacerextending between the end sections 33 and also protecting and reinforcThe member ,15 is power-driven, as will .be more fully exvconsisting ofbeveled gearing ing the rod or shaft 35. Roll 11 is arranged on theshaft 37, projecting to the exterior of the casing and driven as will behereinafter described. As will be noted, rolls 9 and 11 are positivelydriven, while the sectional roll 10 is carried by rolls 9 and 11 anddriven thereby. I prefer to Provide the roll 11 with one or more,preferably a series, of recesses 38, the purpose of which is hereinafterdescribed.

Arranged at one side and below the rolls is a beater mechanismconsisting of a driven shaft 39 provided with a sleeve 40, to which aresecured heaters 41, the same being pivotally secured to wings 42 bymeans of pins or bolts 43 or the equivalent. These heating members 41 Iprefer to provide with faces 45, and I provide a serrated face 46 on thepart 7, as well as a serrated face member. 48. Member 48 is preferablymade removable so that it may be replaced or removed for any reason. Theshaft 39 may be driven in any suitable manner not necessary to describeherein. Generally I prefer to mount the shafts 39, 37 and 32 in bearingsSubstantially as indicated in Figs. 1 and 4.

Referring particularly to Fig. 4 in which one roll bearing is shown, 51is a sleeve mounted in the casing 1, which carries the bearing member52. The sleeve may be secured in place in any suitable manner as bybolting or otherwise. I have shown the member 52 provided with a bushing53 of suitable bearing material, 54 being washers between which isarranged a felt washer 54', or the equivalent. The parts 51 and 52 areso' provided with openings 51 so that any dust or grit accumulated fromthe interior. of the casing may drop out of the bearing box. With thisconstruction the part 51 may be removed and with it the bearing 52, theparts being so desi ed that the opening is suflicient to permitwithdrawal of the roll therefrom without disassembling the casing. Thisconstruction has the advantage of being proof against the admission ofdust and grit against the bearing and likewise permits easy assemblingand disassembling of the machine or the replacement of parts. Thisshaft, through suitable sprockets and sprocket chains or equivalentmeans, is arranged to drive the heaters, together with the rolls 9 and11 and the feed roll 15, the driving connections being indicated indotted lines in Fig. 2, together with the direction of rotation of theseveral members. I prefer to provide a baflle'55, as shown in Fig. 2.

Arranged within the casing is a fan or blower 56 of suitable size, shapeand design, the same being shown mounted on a driving shaft 57. Thisshaft may be driven in any suitable manner, the construction shown 58and 59, shaft 60 and pulley 61, which is belted to pulley 62. It may bementioned that I prefer to use a cross-belt 63, as most clearly shown inFigs. 1 and 2, so that the operation of the blower and other parts ofthe mechanism work in unison. Suitable bearings, preferablyanti-friction bearings, are provided for the shafts 57 and 60, it beingunderstood that any equivalent construction other than that shown may beemployed. The shaft 57 also carries a member 64, which is chambered asindicated at 65 and provided with the rims 66 and 67. The rim 67 is of asize to allow a space 68 between the casing and the edge of the rim,While the upper portion 66 is so proportioned as to leave the space 69between the rim and casing. The member 64 is provided with openings70and is open at the bottom, as indicated at 71. Arranged at the openbottom is a valve member 72 which is movable up or down to partiallyclose or uncover the opening 70. This member is shown pivotallysupported by arms 74 from the shaft 75, which is controlled by an arm 76. This arm may be maintained in the position desired by a pin 77, orthe equivalent, adapted to engage one or more holes in the casing so asto maintain the same in the desired adjustment. 7 8 represents thebaflie plate interposed between the member 64 and the casing outletwhich is at 79.

The operation of the device may be briefly described as follows:Assuming that the member 16 is in the position shown in Fig. 2, the cam26 turning the same to this position, any coal which is discharged intothe hopper 6 through the opening 14 will be picked up by the feedingroll, consisting of 15 and 16, and carried over the top of the,

same, the amount so picked up depending uponthe position of the same andresulting adjustment of 16 and the air current. As soon as it. passesover the top, it tends to discharge the material which fiows off anddown the sloping bottom 5 into the beater. As the roll 15 tends torotate, dog 25 will engage cam face 27 and rock member 16 in theposition to fill the recess 21 and clear the bottom wall of 6, as shownin Fig. 7, thereby throwing out any material therein. As the rollcontlnues to rotate, however, it is thrown back to the position shown inFig. 2 and again picks up and carries the load. Obviously, the locationor adjustment of the cam 26 will vary the amount of material that. willbe picked up, as the member 16 will be varied in its adjustment.

The material, while traveling down from the feeder, will be thoroughlymixed with the air that enters through the opening 22. Consequently, anydust or finely comminuted material will follow the air currentdirectlyinto the separator where the final separation takes place. vThe heavymaterial coming down from the feeder passes into the beater compartmentwhere it is partly reduced,

especially the large pieces, by the hitting action of the beaters whichalso throws the material against theserrated stationary surface. Thebeaters will then throw any particles that are too heavy to be picked upby the passing air current into rollers 10- and 11 Which reduce thematerial to such a fineness that it can be picked up by the saidcurrent. To accomplish this, it may have to pass through the rollsseveral times. Any large pieces not readily broken up by the beaters arealso thrown into said rolls, but

being too large to be fed in between the rolls in the ordinary way, areforced through by the recesses 38 in roll 11. These recesses actas'pushers. All finely comminutedmaterial is carried up byv an aircurrent having a de-' sired intensity or suction produced by the fan. Asit is impossible to geta uniform separation of the coarse from the finematerial in a space where so much'commotion exists as in the spacedirectly above the beaters and rolls, the material is passed through aseparator. The function of this is to receive the high velocity aircurrent with all the material in it and to gradually reduce saidvelocity to a point that is too slow to carry the heavier particles insus- -pension. The result is the coarse particles drop out of the aircurrent and fall onto the rim 67 thence through space 68 and is finallythrown into rolls '10 and 11 and reduced. Thefine particles in theseparators are.car-

Med with the air current upwards and pass through space 69 where thevelocity again is hlgh.

As shown in Figs. -1 and 2, the space pro vided for separation has sucha shape that will first produce a gradual reduction in velocity to69,.the velocity is increased toallow the same volume of air to passthrough as entered through valve 72. From the separator the currentpasses thr'oughthe fan and then to'a collector or other suitablereceiving apparatus.

The apparatus herein shown has many advantages. The feeder, with itsadjustable cam mechanism, -by means of ,which the amount of feed can-bevaried between zero .and the maximum, while the machine is running doesnot employ ratchets, gears or the like, and is desirable and efficient.With the three roll arrangements for crushing, the

big roller made up of the segments being combined axially,

accomplishe by means of the guide rod which also, in the event that apiece of material gets under one of the discs, limits the disc.movement, and that disc may rise until 6 the wall of the hole at thecenter of the segment strikes the tie rod, after which the of theseveral segments drawn up by the fan the fan.

and fan can bedriven independently of each cause separation, and then asthe current passes closer to the contracted space there is no wearing atthe endr discs 'a ainst the side plates. This is.

crushing rolls until it is finally comminuted to the. point where it iscarried along from the casing. The fineness of the-material iscontrolled by regulating valve 72: Moving this valve upward willdecrease the amount of air entering the separator, and since the ratioofthe sectional area of the separating chamber to the inlet area can bevaried, it follows that reducing the volume entering tion in velocity ofthe separating chamber. locity of the air in said separating chamber,the finer will be the material delivered by It is. understood that theseparator moving air in the other irr any desired manner, also that thefan can be placed horizontally if suitable.

will be thrown into the i the separator will result in a similar reduc-The slower the ve- .The construction is such that substantially auniform product is discharged from the minuted. If the member 16 isarranged so that nomaterial is carried over by the roll 15, the rollwillmerely revolve or rotate, and

consequently it is possible to control the discharge ofthe material tocorrespond with the output required.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that variousimmaterial modifications may be made in the same without de-'" partingfrom the spirit of my invention; hence I do not wish-to be understood aslimiting myself-to the exact form', construction, arrangement andcombination of parts herein shown and mentioned.

-What I claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the character described andin-combination, a casingprovided with an inlet and outlet, a blower having rotatable vanesarranged to discharge comminuted described or uses materialthrough saidoutlet, means for regulating the passage of material through the ca ing,said last mentioned means comprising an apertured member constrained torotate with the vanes, and valve means through the aperture in saidmember.

2. In a device of the kind described and in combination,.a casingprovlded with an for controlling the passage of material device and thematerial allthoroughb com- 'said adjustable means including a rotatableapertured plate forming a partition across the casing.

3. In a device of the character descrlbed and in combination, a casingprovided with an inlet and outlet. and divided'intermediate the inletand outlet to provide associated compartments, a fan in one compartmentfor causing a flow of comminuted material thereto from the othercompartment and discharging the material through said outlet,

means for controlling the passage of material into the fan compartment,said last mentioned means comprising an apertured member rotatable withthe fan, and means for controlling the flow of material through theaperture in said member.

4. In a device of the kind described and in combination, a casingprovided with an inlet and outlet, means for controlling the passage ofmaterial into the casing, means for comminuting the material consistingof heating means and cooperating crushing means, a shaft projecting intothe said casing and provided with a rotary part substantiallyconstituting a partition across the casing and having ports for thepassage of material adjacent the center thereof, a blower carried bysaid shaft constructed to induce a flow of material from saidcomminuting means through the casing and out through said out-let.

5. In a device of the kind described and in combination, a casingprovided with an inlet and outlet, adjustable means for controlling thepassage of material into the casing, means for comminuting the materialcon sisting of heating means and cooperating crushing means, a shaftprojecting into the said casing and provided with a rotary partsubstantially constituting a partition across the casing and havingports for the passage of material therethrough adjacent thecenterthereof, a blower carried by said shaft above said rotary partconstructed to induce a flow of material from said comminuting meansthrough the casing and out through said outlet.

6. In an apparatus of the'kind described and in combination, a casing,crushing mechanism comprising a plurality of spaced driven rollsrotatably journaled in the easing and an idler roll arrangedtherebetween and carried thereby, said idler roll consisting of aplurality of sections operatively secured together and havingindependent relative movement.

7. In an apparatus of the kind described inlet, and in combination, acasing, crushing mechanism comprising a plurality of spaced driven rollsrotatably journaled in the casing and-an idler roll arrangedtherebetween and carried thereby, said, idler roll consist ing of aplurality of sections operatively secured together and havingindependent relative movement, one of said spaced rolls having aplurality of recesses therein.

8. In an apparatus of the kind described and in combination, a casing,crushing mechanism comprising a plurality of spaced driven rollsrotatably journaled in the casing and an idler rollarranged therebetweenand carried thereby, said idler roll consisting of a plurality ofsections operatively secured together and having independent relativemovement, and beating mechanism associated therewith. I

9. In a machine of the class described-and in combination, a casing,means for receiving and discharging comminuted material from the casing,said means including a shaft, a fan arranged thereon, a rotary separatorarranged in the path of the comminuted material as it travels towardsaid fan, said separator arranged to return the heavyparticles to thesource of supply, and valve meansassociated with the rotary separatorfor controlling the passage of comminuted material therethrough.

10. In a device of the kind described and in combination, a casingprovided with an inlet and outlet, means for feeding material into thecasing, means for comminuting the material consisting of beating meansand cooperating crushing means, a shaft projecting into the said casingand provided with a rotary part substantially constituting a partitionacross the casing and having ports for the passage of material adjacentthe center thereof, a blower carried by said shaft constructed to inducea flow of material from said comminuting means through the casing andout through said outlet.

11. In a machine of the class described and in combination,a casing,comminuting mechanism arranged therein and means for receiving anddischarging the comminuted material from the casing, including a shaft,a fan arranged thereon, a disc arranged on said shaft in the path of thecomminuted material passing from said comminuting mechanism to saidblower, said disc having a valved port, and means for regulating thefineness of material passing to the fan through said valved port.

12. In an apparatus of the kind described, a casing and associatedcasing parts having an inclined bottom' wall with the material inletadjacent the raised portion of the bot-- tom wall, a feeding mechanismarranged adcrushing mechanism arranged intermediate said beatingmechanism and feeding mech anism, said casing having an outlet, a powerdriven blower arranged between said outlet and said beating 'and"crushing mechanism, a separator arranged between said blower and beatingand crushing mechanism, and means for controlling the'passage of mate--rial to said blower and its discharge from the outletof the casing.

13. In an apparatus of the kind described, a casing and associatedcasing parts having an inclined bottom wall with the material inletadjacent the raised portion of the bottom wall, an adjustable fieedingmechanism arranged adjacent said inlet, beating mechanism arranged atthe lower end of said bottom wall, crushing mechanism arranged.intermediate said beating mechanism and feeding mechanism,- said casinghavin an outlet, a power driven blower arrange between said outlet andsaid beating and crushing mechanism, and means for. controlling thepassage of material from said beating and crushing mechanism to saidblower and discharge outlet of the casing.

14. In a device of the kind described and in combination, a casinghaving a plurality of compartments and having an inlet and an outlet,crushing means arranged in one of said compartments, rotary meansarranged in the other compartment for blowing crushed material throughthe outlet, and an apertured member constrained to rotate with saidrotary means and forming a partition between said compartments.

15. In a device of the kind described and in combination, a casinghaving a plurality of compartments and having an inlet and an outlet,crushing means arranged in one of said compartments, rotary meansarranged in the other compartment for blowing crushed material throughthe outlet, an apertured member constrained to rotate with said rotarymeans and forming a partitionbetween said compartments, and means associated with said apertured member for controlling the flow of crushedmaterial between said compartments, "and valve means associated withsaid apertured member for controlling the flow of crushed materialtherethrough.

17. In a device of the kind described and in combinatioma casing, apair-of spaced rolls rotatably journaledin the casing, means for drivingsaid rolls, a third roll carried by said pair of rolls andcomprising aplurality of relatively movable members,

beating mechanism disposed in the casing, a

fan disposed in the casing, an apertured' memberconstra'ined to rotatewith the fan, and valve .means associated with said apertured member. Intestimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

CHARLES H. BIRCH.

